Seals have been used over the years for providing a positive indication that the contents of the container or casing have not been tampered with. Many of these seals are merely adhesive seals which typically must be ripped to open the container, however, in other cases, such as electronic components, various electrical switches and/or magnetic devices have been used to provide a positive indication that the security of the device has been violated. More sophisticated electronic seals typically include a switch arrangement and have not proven entirely satisfactory. The switch type devices normally provide a signal to the device that a breach has occurred. This is important in many devices where the warranty may be void if the device has been tampered with. For other applications, a mere positive indication that a breach has occurred is not sufficient, as a more important aspect may be to render the device inoperative if the contents have been violated. For example, in some devices an unauthorized breach may indicate a fraudulent activity. This would be the case for automatic teller machines and financial transaction terminals, such as terminals for processing credit cards, charge cards and/or debit cards.
A further problem with the existing systems is that it is often easy to circumvent and/or replace the tamper indicating device.